An exhibition organised by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Musée National du Château de Pau in conjunction with the Polo Museale di Firenze.
Henry IV was assassinated by Ravillac on 14 May 1610. The news quickly reached Florence and on 23 May the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II of Medici (1609-1621), a cousin of Marie de Medici, launched arrangements for in effigie funeral celebrations in honour of the Most Christian king. The impressive ceremony took place on 16 September 1610 with all the trappings of the Medicis’ highly political funeral rituals. The celebration was one of the first acts in young Cosimo’s principate and confirmed the alliance between France and the Grand Dukes of Tuscany that dated from the wedding of Marie de Medicis and Henry IV in 1600.
The décor for this grandiose funeral, designed by the court architect and draughtsman Giulio Parigi, was an extensive illustration of the late King’s exploits and wise government. The set of twenty six large grisaille canvases (nineteen of which have survived) were painted by Tuscan artists close to the Medicis, including Jacopo da Empoli, Bernardino Poccetti and Francesco Curradi: it was a truly collective work which briefly covered the walls of the San Lorenzo church, draped with funeral hangings for the occasion. Although shown only fleetingly, the set had a real influence, inspiring the series of paintings by Rubens that Marie de Medici commissioned for the Palais du Luxembourg.
This exhibition in commemoration of the assassination of Henry IV, the first King of France and Navarre, takes on special significance in the Château of Pau, “good King Henry’s” birthplace. It gives the public an unprecedented opportunity to see this set of Italian paintings which demonstrates the Medicis’ vitality on the international political scene. It raises pertinent questions on the historical and European importance of the reign of Henry IV.
Hung in the large palatial rooms on the ground floor of the chateau of Pau, particularly in the famous salle des cent couverts, the nineteen canvases painted in grisaille recall the Italian funeral of Henry IV, alongside portraits, allegorical paintings, sculptures, drawings and precious objects from public and private Italian collections. The exhibition will be shown in the Medici Chapels Museum in Florence in autumn 2010.
